Disaster in Japan Hits Home

by Renee on March 11, 2011

Waking to the news of a major earthquake and tsunami in Japan today hit home for me–my youngest sister moved back there for the third time just a couple of weeks ago. She fell in love with that country’s language and culture years ago, and has taught Japanese schoolchildren English for some time. Her current assignment is about six hours south of Tokyo, so I was relieved to hear that she is safe, though under a number of warnings at the moment.

Meanwhile, the video, images and photos coming into my living room from Japan on the news channels remind me that the six or so inches of snow we have in mid-March today is just a minor inconvenience.

Dogfish Head Beer continues to encourage support of the Red Cross in the wake of this disaster–even as the waves crash upon the beaches of Hawaii and the West Coast of the U.S.

So tonight when you raise a toast to your weekend, think of those less fortunate across the globe — something that I plan to do more often this Lenten season anyway. Because you know I’m not giving up beer.

And here’s to hoping the glory of Japan as demonstrated in this commercial is restored quickly:

I am glad your sister is okay! Thank god for email and twitter. My wife is Japanese and her whole family lives in Tokyo. Luckily we heard from the very quickly via email that while there house was a mess everyone was okay. A good friend of mine was tweeting as he walked 20 miles to get home to check on his family as the trains weren’t running.